1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a thin and cordless operation body having a pointing function, an information-input device capable of housing the operation body, and an information terminal device having the operation body and the information-input device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a pointing device is used as an information-input device of an information device such as a personal computer, the pointing device moving a pointer in a display, selecting information, and commanding. There are a variety of devices such as a track pad, a track ball, a mouse and so on, as the above-mentioned pointing device.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-318661 (hereinafter referred to as Document 1) supposes one of the pointing devices. Document 1 discloses a pointing device having an information display, a sensor and a controller, the information display displaying information and a pointer for selecting the information, the sensor reading an optical image of a finger and detecting a movement of the finger, the controller moving the pointer according to the movement of the finger detected by the sensor. With this pointing device, it is possible to select necessary information when one finger moves the pointer displayed in the information display.
Among the pointing devices, it is possible to build the track pad or the track ball into a keyboard and is possible to restrain an increase of a height of the keyboard. However, the above-mentioned pointing device has a problem in usability that it takes a familiarity with the operation of the pointing device.
The pointing device disclosed in Document 1 has high operability when an operator holds a mobile terminal such as a cellular phone with one hand and operates the pointer. And it is possible to restrain an increase of a height of the pointing device. However, the pointing device has the same problem as the track pad and the track ball. The problem is that it takes a familiarity with the operation of the pointing device and the pointing device is not usable when operating a pointer displayed in a display of a laptop personal computer. And the pointing device disclosed in Document 1 reads an optical image of a fingertip and moves a pointer. However, it is possible that a focal point is out of focus depending the operation of an operator, and it may not be possible to pick up the movement of the fingertip completely.
On the other hand, the mouse is used in an information terminal device such as a personal computer, because the mouse has high operability and it is easy to operate the mouse.
Recently, an optical mouse is developed. The optical mouse has a light emitter and a light receiver in the body thereof, and moves a pointer along a moving direction of the mouse. As shown in FIG. 13, this optical mouse is a mouse 52 that has an optical sensor 52a composed of a light emitter and a light receiver, and is operated on a desk 53 or the like. The optical sensor 52a receives a reflection light shown at an arrow 54, detects a movement of the mouse 52, and reflects the movement to a pointer.
Further, a wireless mouse not coupled to an information terminal device such as a personal computer is developed. And operability is getting higher.
There is a console drawer 50 among information terminal devices using the above-mentioned mouse, the console drawer 50 being housed in a rack 51 that has a plurality of slide-out shelves and having an openable and closable display 55 similarly to a laptop personal computer, as shown in FIG. 14. The console drawer 50 has a keyboard 56 and the mouse 52, as shown in FIG. 15. The mouse 52 is operated in a space near the keyboard 56.
Here, the openable and closable display 55 generally has a liquid crystal. There is a possibility that the conventional mouse 52 gives damage to the liquid crystal of the display 55, when the display 55 is closed by mistake with the mouse 52 being placed near the keyboard 56 as shown in FIG. 16.